WASHINGTON: The United States will allow Chinese airlines to increase US passenger services to 12 weekly round-trips, the Transportation Department (USDOT) said on Wednesday (May 3), equal to the number of flights Beijing has permitted for American carriers.
It is a boost from the eight weekly round-trip flights currently allowed by Chinese carriers and matches what Beijing has permitted for US carriers, but a small fraction of the more than 150 round-trip flights allowed by each side before restrictions were imposed in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
USDOT’s order said its goal was “a gradual, broader reopening of the US-China air services market”.China in March reopened its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in the three years after abandoning COVID-related border controls for its own citizens in January.
USDOT noted American began operating two additional roundtrip weekly flights to Shanghai from Texas in March after Chinese pandemic restrictions were dropped.
USDOT said in its order that Chinese restrictions on air travel “had, and continue to have, a devastating effect on the US-China air transport market.”
US airlines and other foreign carriers are barred from flying over Russia in retaliation for the United States banning Russia from flights over the US in March 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine.
Source: Reuters
